Yes, Girls Do Play Football

Even if they weren’t on your TV yesterday.

In living rooms across America yesterday, children watched Cam Newton and Peyton Manning face off in the Super Bowl and probably asked their parents if, when they grow up, can they play in the national championship too? For little girls, the answer is almost always no. But there’s a group of women trying to change that.

“I wanted to play football when I was a little girl but my mom wouldn't allow me,” Tonya Newton tells Teen Vogue. “She said I wasn't shaped like the boys.” Today, Tonya is a running back for the Woodland Wildcats, an all-female, full-tackle, full-pad football team in Texas that’s part of the Independent Women’s Football League.

Unlike the NFL, which dominates football across the country, women’s full-tackle, full-pad football is broken into two leagues: IWFL, which has 35 teams, and the Women’s Football Alliance, which has 45 teams. There’s also the Legends, or Lingerie, Football League, which has eight teams in the United States, but altered rules that differentiate itself from both the NFL and the other women’s leagues: there’s fewer players on the field, hockey helmets, and no field goals. And, as you’d imagine, they wear lingerie.

The second biggest difference: money. Male football players make millions of dollars on the field, and millions more off the field with lucrative endorsement deals. Female players rely on local fundraising to help sponsor the team and chip in for uniforms and travel costs themselves. When they aren’t on the field, they have full-time jobs, families, and children.

Tonya is a mother and teaches math at a middle school. Ashlee Garza, who plays on the defensive line for the Wildcats, works as a customer support agent and Laura Cantu, head coach for the team, is the regional manager for an after-school program.

“Right now, we have four practices a week,” Ashlee says. “With any sport, there's going to be a commitment but it doesn't really bother you because you have so much drive and passion for it.” Tonya echoes her passion: “Balancing is tough but once you commit to something, you believe in their vision and you find a way to balance it. Football actually helps balance me,” she says, laughing that it helps the stresses of having four boys under the age of 12 in the house.

Ashlee grew up a football fan but didn’t have the opportunity to play as a child, and Lauren was a water girl for her brother’s football team, as she wasn’t allowed to play with the boys. Now, Ashlee in her third year as an adult player, and Lauren is entering year 13 with a national championship title under the belt.

“I’d love to gain awareness and support. When you think football, some people automatically think it's male dominated but I'd love to see it that that's not always where their thought goes. If the energy was the same around it as the NFL, that would be great,” Ashlee tells Teen Vogue.

The IWFL’s Super Bowl tries to mimic the NFL, Laura, who has played in the championship game five times, says. There’s a halftime show, a band, and as much pomp and circumstance as the league can muster. But the root of the problem is always cash. “We try to reach out to larger companies [for sponsorship] but it’s hard. Women playing football, some people frown upon it,” she explains. “It’s been a difficult process.”

A big part of generating that buzz comes from television time. The WFA’s national championship has been aired on ESPN3, Root Sports, and Comcast, Lisa King, the league’s director of operations, tells Teen Vogue. “I think at first, when you talk about women’s football, the first thing that comes to mind is lingerie football. They got recognition from the NFL and did a halftime show,” she explains. “We are working hard to gain as much publicity and recognition as we can to show people we play legitimate football. It’s real football, real pads, and real football rules.”

It would be easier to gain that recognition if the two women’s leagues merged into one, she says. Though Lauren, an IWFL head coach, agrees, thus far the merge hasn’t been possible. “To have one league instead of two leagues would greatly benefit women’s football,” King says. “It makes no sense for us to be competing, we should be working together.”

Both leagues are also looking for help from the NFL, which until recently has had a poor reputation when it came to women’s outreach. This year, the league held its first Women’s Summit, an event meant to empower and uplift athletic women. “I think the summit is a big step in the right direction,” Ashlee says. “Any time you can bring women’s perspectives in to make them feel included, that’s a barrier we have crossed. More integration would be desirable. It might take some time but we are moving.”

Though they are always working to expand the league, the players are proud of how far they’ve come. “With playing football, it’s one of those things we are doing that everyone thinks we can’t do,” Tonya says. “It’s empowering. It gives people hope. Women’s football doesn’t necessarily have the respect it deserves. It’s a sport, women are playing it, and that in itself is empowering.”

Hopefully, if the IWFL and WFA get the recognition they deserve, little and adolescent girls watching football on TV won't have to wonder whether or not they'll be able to play the sport when they grow up too.